Fuzzy multiple heuristic orderings for examination timetabling

Abstract

In this paper, we address the issue of ordering exams by simultaneously considering two separate heuristics using fuzzy methods. Combinations of two of the following three heuristic orderings are employed: largest degree, saturation degree and largest enrolment. The fuzzy weight of an exam is used to represent how difficult it is to schedule. The decreasingly ordered exams are sequentially chosen to be assigned to the last slot with least penalty cost value while the feasibility of the timetable is maintained throughout the process. Unscheduling and rescheduling exams is performed until all exams are scheduled. The proposed algorithm has been tested on 12 benchmark examination timetabling data sets and the results show that this approach can produce good quality solutions. Moreover, there is significant potential to extend the approach by including a larger range of heuristics. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.